View source for If you remain nondevotee, you cannot convince others. That is not in your power. Therefore the nondevotee class of men, they cannot understand God, they cannot convince others about God

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{{terms|"If you remain nondevotee, you cannot convince others. That is not in your power. Therefore the nondevotee class of men, they cannot understand God, they cannot convince others about God"}}
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[[Category:Nondevotees of God]]
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[[Category:Nondevotees Cannot Convince Others about God]]
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[[Category:Convincing Others about God]]
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[[Category:That Is Not]]
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[[Category:Cannot Understand God]]

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<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
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<div id="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Lectures" text="Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures"><h3>Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures</h3>
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<div id="LectureonBG22025SeattleOctober141968_0" class="quote" parent="Bhagavad-gita_As_It_Is_Lectures" book="Lec" index="83" link="Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968" link_text="Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968">
<div class="heading">Without being devotee, you cannot make others devotee. That is also a secret. If you remain nondevotee, you cannot convince others. That is not in your power. Therefore the nondevotee class of men, they cannot understand God, they cannot convince others about God.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968|Lecture on BG 2.20-25 -- Seattle, October 14, 1968]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Śrīmatī: In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta you wrote that Kṛṣṇa has no arms or legs as we have arms and legs, and His spiritual body and the other is the same. The spiritual body and...</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: He has got spiritual arms, spiritual legs. I never said that He has no arms and legs.</p>
<p>Śrīmatī: It said that He has no arms and legs as we know arms and legs.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the statement in the Vedas. Apāni-pādo javana grahīta.(?) The Supreme Lord has no legs and hands, but still, He accepts whatever we offer. Now we are accepting, we are offering here foodstuff, Kṛṣṇa. So it is confirmed that He accepts. Now He is... We do not know how far away He is staying in Vaikuṇṭhaloka. There is no limit of measurement. Then how He's accepting? It is said that javana, He is accepting our offerings. So He must be accepting with His hand. So He can stretch His hand so many millions and trillions miles away. Therefore when it is said that He has no hand, that means He has no hand like us, limited. But that does not mean He has no hand. He has hand unlimited. Unlimitedly He can stretch. That we cannot conceive. Because we have got this three-feet hand. So Kṛṣṇa must have at least four-feet. That's all. That frog philosophy. (laughter) Simply imagining. "Ah, Kṛṣṇa may be very great. So we have got this three-feet, Kṛṣṇa, let Him have six-feet. That's all." But we cannot imagine how long His hand is. Therefore His hand cannot be compared with this material hand. He has no material hand. That is the version of Vedas. But He has hand. That you cannot measure. Just like Arjuna could not measure when He showed the universal form. So avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīm... ([[Vanisource:BG 9.11 (1972)|BG 9.11]]). Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, "Because I am moving amongst them as ordinary human being, they are thinking of Me as one of them." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānantaḥ. "They do not know what is My background." Paraṁ bhāvam. "Therefore they fail to understand Me." Mūḍha. Rascals, fools. Everyone is trying to understand Kṛṣṇa from the angle of vision as he can understand. Kṛṣṇa is beyond that. Therefore His name is Adhokṣaja, "beyond the limit." He can simply be presented by Himself, revealed. Just like Kṛṣṇa is revealing Himself to Arjuna. Arjuna is not understanding Kṛṣṇa by his philosophical speculation. Directly Kṛṣṇa revealing. This is the process of understanding God. You cannot create your imagination, imaginative God. No. God reveals unto you being pleased upon you by your devotional activities. Sevonmukhe hi jihvādau (Brs. 1.2.234). Just like Kṛṣṇa says to Arjuna, bhakto 'si priyo 'si ([[Vanisource:BG 4.3 (1972)|BG 4.3]]). "You are My very dear friend, you are My devotee. Therefore I'll reveal unto you. Not to others." This is the qualification of understanding God, to become devotee.</p>
<p>So our movement is to make people in general devotee. Then he'll understand God. Then his life will be successful. That's all. You be yourself devotee and try to make others devotee. Then both your life and the person who is under your instruction, he, everyone is successful. And without being devotee, you cannot make others devotee. That is also a secret. If you remain nondevotee, you cannot convince others. That is not in your power. Therefore the nondevotee class of men, they cannot understand God, they cannot convince others about God. That's a fact. They'll simply present hodge-podge thing, they do not understand clearly, and they present hodge-podge. That's all. Without being... Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 18.55 (1972)|BG 18.55]]). "If anyone wants to understand Me as I am..." Of course, nobody can understand Kṛṣṇa as He is, still, as far as possible. That is only through bhakti. Bhaktyā, it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā. It doesn't say that through knowledge, philosophical speculation or through haṭha-yoga system. No. He says bhaktyā, clearly. And in the beginning also He says, "Because you are My bhakta, therefore I shall reveal to you." The whole science is for the devotee. Not for anyone else. Those who are not devotees, their understanding of God is blocked forever. They cannot understand. It is a fact. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, māyāvādī-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa ([[Vanisource:CC Madhya 6.169|CC Madhya 6.169]]). If anyone tries to understand these impersonalist Māyāvādī philosophers, then his, I mean to say, progress is blocked for good. Not for good, of course. Nothing can be for good. But for the present at least his progress is blocked. Sarva-nāśa. Chant. Hare Kṛṣṇa. (kīrtana) (end)</p>
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